This invention relates to fantasy sports contests, and more particularly, this invention relates to systems and methods for providing wagering opportunities in conjunction with fantasy sports contests.
In known fantasy sports contests, a user (i.e., a fantasy sports contestant) selects a roster, a team, a particular individual, or a group of individuals in a season-long athletic competition. Fantasy sports contests are typically based on real-life team sports (e.g., football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, rugby, etc.), real-life athletic events in which individuals compete (e.g., golf, tennis, automotive racing, etc.), and real-life sporting events involving animals (e.g., horse and dog racing). The user is given the ability to take on the role of a fictional general manager with powers which may include the ability to draft, trade, dismiss and otherwise manage the user's fantasy sports contest team selections.
Known fantasy sports contest systems provide services to users which include providing statistical information for real-life athletic competition and tracking users' standings (i.e., rankings) in fantasy sports contests. Known fantasy sports contest systems typically determine a user's standing (i.e., ranking) in a fantasy sports contest based on the performance of the user's fantasy sports contest team selections in real-life athletic competition. For example, a conventional fantasy sports contest system might award five fantasy sports contest points to the user for every goal scored in real-life by a member of the user's fantasy sports contest soccer team. Generally, the user who has accumulated the most fantasy sports contest points by the conclusion of a fantasy sports contest (e.g., the end of a real-life athletic season) is the overall winner of that fantasy sports contest.
Fantasy sports contestants may often find it desirable to wager with one another based on, for example, which of the fantasy sports contestants accumulates the most fantasy sports contest points in a fantasy sports contest (e.g., for a particular week of the fantasy sports contest, over the entire fantasy sports contest, etc.). Fantasy sports contestants may also find it desirable to wager based on real-life athletic events (e.g., real-life athletic events that are related to the contestants' fantasy sports contest). In particular, because fantasy sports contestants typically track closely real-life athletic events (e.g., to plan favorable trades of the contestants' fantasy sports contest team selections, as a hobby or pastime, for entertainment purposes, etc.), fantasy sports contestants may find it desirable to wager (e.g., with other fantasy sports contestants, through a wagering service) based on the outcomes of these real-life athletic events.
Known fantasy sports contest systems do not provide to a user the ability to wager. In particular, a user of a known fantasy sports contest system is required to establish independently from the fantasy sports contest system terms of a wager with, for example, another fantasy sports contestant. Therefore, fantasy sports contest data (e.g., real-life sports statistics, fantasy sports standings, etc.) that may otherwise be useful in establishing the terms of a wager may be not be conveniently accessible to a user who is determining whether to wager. Additionally, the user may have no choice but to reiterate (i.e., independent from the fantasy sports contest system) an opportunity to wager to, for example, a second fantasy sports contestant in the event that wager terms cannot be established with a first fantasy sports contestant. Furthermore, because known fantasy sports contest systems do not store or otherwise process data for the user's wagers, the user may forget the agreed-upon terms of a wager or, even worse, whether a wager was ever made.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods for providing wagering opportunities in conjunction with fantasy sports contests.